European cloud providers in German IT contracts: STACKIT leads – far behind AWS and Azure
Of all mentions of a cloud provider, 1.4% name a European provider and 98% a US provider. Among the European cloud providers, listings name STACKIT (55%) most often, followed by Open Telekom Cloud (16%). These percentages are shares of the mentions of a European provider. 47 of 52,306 listings name STACKIT, 2,540 name AWS and 2,534 Azure.
European alternatives to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud: their share of German IT contracts
The chart sums the cloud providers by their origin: the share of all mentions of a cloud provider, 100% together. A listing naming two providers counts for both.
In detail: AWS (42%) and Azure (42%) are practically level. Google Cloud (13%) is third. STACKIT has 0.8% among all providers. The full comparison is in the analysis AWS vs Azure in Germany: the cloud providers IT contracts ask for.
German and European cloud providers compared: which is most in demand?
The next chart compares only the providers with their seat in Europe with each other. Among the European cloud providers, listings name STACKIT (55%) most often, followed by Open Telekom Cloud (16%). Six of the eight are based in Germany (STACKIT, Open Telekom Cloud, IONOS, Hetzner, plusserver, SAP), OVHcloud and Scaleway in France.
In numbers: over the whole period, 47 listings name STACKIT, the cloud of the Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland), 14 Open Telekom Cloud, 9 Hetzner, 8 IONOS, 6 SAP Sovereign Cloud, 1 OVHcloud, 0 Scaleway and 0 plusserver. With numbers this small, a single client with several listings is enough to change the order.
STACKIT freelance contracts in Germany: which roles ask for it?
Of the 44 STACKIT listings for developer and engineering roles, most fall to DevOps / Platform Engineer (43%) and Cloud Solution Architect (41%). The chart shows how these listings are spread over the developer roles; under each role is the share of its own listings naming STACKIT.
Projectmatch shows the current STACKIT contracts. What defines the roles is on the role pages DevOps / Platform Engineer and Cloud Solution Architect.
European cloud providers month by month
The table shows, per month, the developer and engineering contracts, how many of them name a cloud provider, their share, and the listings of the three most named European providers (counted across all listings).
| Month | Developer and engineering contracts | Cloud contracts | Share | STACKIT | Open Telekom Cloud | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 178 | 35 | 20% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| June 2026 | 2,646 | 652 | 25% | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| July 2026 | 3,594 | 915 | 25% | 23 | 2 | 3 |
| August 2026 | 3,364 | 671 | 20% | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 3,602 | 864 | 24% | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| October 2026 | 3,934 | 869 | 22% | 4 | 0 | 4 |
The monthly numbers are small and vary a lot; no trend can be read from them.
What does this mean for contractors?
- When a listing names a cloud provider, it is almost always a US one (98% of the mentions): Projectmatch shows the current contracts naming AWS or Azure from five project boards.
- Few listings ask for experience with a European provider. If you have it, name the provider in your profile.
- Have new projects matched against your profile automatically instead of searching every board – try it now.
See also: The most in-demand cloud providers, The most in-demand databases, The most in-demand programming languages, Security clearance in IT contracts and IT freelance projects by industry.
Frequently asked questions
Which European cloud provider is most in demand in German IT contracts?
Among the European cloud providers, listings name STACKIT (55%) most often, followed by Open Telekom Cloud (16%). The percentages are shares of the mentions of a European provider in 52,306 listings (May 2026 – October 2026); 47 listings name STACKIT.
How big are the European cloud providers compared with AWS and Azure?
1.4% of all mentions of a cloud provider name a European provider, 98% a US provider. 2,540 listings name AWS, 2,534 Azure and 47 STACKIT.
How often do IT contracts in Germany ask for IONOS, Hetzner or OVHcloud?
Over the whole period, 8 listings name IONOS, 9 Hetzner and 1 OVHcloud; 14 name Open Telekom Cloud.
Which roles ask for STACKIT?
Of the 44 STACKIT listings for developer and engineering roles, most fall to DevOps / Platform Engineer (43%) and Cloud Solution Architect (41%).
How much demand is there for sovereign cloud in German IT contracts?
The analysis measures this by provider: 1.4% of all mentions of a cloud provider name a European provider. 6 listings name SAP Sovereign Cloud. Sovereign offerings of the US providers count for that US provider; the term “sovereign cloud” without a provider's name is not recorded.
Which European alternatives to AWS and Azure do German IT contracts name?
STACKIT (47 listings), Open Telekom Cloud (14), Hetzner (9), IONOS (8), SAP Sovereign Cloud (6), OVHcloud (1), Scaleway (0) and plusserver (0).
Method
An AI model reads every project description and records the skills it asks for. A provider counts for a listing that names it or one of its services. The European providers are the cloud providers with their seat in Europe: STACKIT, Open Telekom Cloud (also named T Cloud Public), IONOS, Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, plusserver and SAP Sovereign Cloud. The US providers are AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud and DigitalOcean. Sovereign offerings of the US providers count for that US provider. Every listing counts at most once per provider.
The analysis counts what listings name – not which cloud a company actually uses: a listing asking only for “cloud” or “Kubernetes” counts for no provider. Because so few listings name a European provider, a provider has its own bar here from five listings on; the others are summed, and roles with fewer than five listings are left out. In the comparison of all providers the minimum is 30 listings, as in the other analyses. The first month, May 2026, is only partly covered.
A change counts as a gain or a loss only when it is at least one percentage point and larger than the variation this number of listings produces by chance. The figures refer to the projects first listed in a month and are updated monthly. They are published under the CC BY 4.0 licence: you may use them freely, also commercially, crediting “Projectmatch (projectmatch.io)” and, online, linking to this page.